TUSCALOOSA, Ala. - The Alabama football team worked for two hours in full pads at the Thomas-Drew Practice Facility, its first of two practices on Thursday. The second practice is set for 7:30 p.m. in shells.

Thursday marked the Tide's second two-a-day practice of the preseason. Alabama will have one more two-a-day practice on Monday, Aug. 17.

"We are working our way through it, and we are pleased with the progress that we are making," Alabama head coach Nick Saban said following Thursday's morning practice. "We have a lot of young guys that are making a lot of progress. We are very pleased with some of the older, more experienced players in terms of the leadership that they are providing. I think that is very, very important that somebody steps up and says `match my intensity'."

Coach Saban announced today that sophomore running back Jeramie Griffin suffered a torn ACL during a non-contact drill and would need surgery and be lost for the season.

In other news on Thursday, senior kicker Leigh Tiffin was named to the Lou Groza Award preseason watch list. The award is presented annually to the nation's top place-kicker by the Palm Beach (Fla.) Sports Commission. Tiffin is one of 31 preseason candidates, including five SEC kickers.

"It's a great honor and I am very happy, but it doesn't mean anything now," Tiffin said. "We are working hard and I kicked the ball well today. I just try to continue to get better each day."

Tiffin handles all place-kicking and kickoff chores for Alabama and ranks fifth on the Tide's career kick-scoring list with 253 career points, just 92 points behind career leader Phillip Doyle (345). As a sophomore in 2007, Tiffin set the UA single-season record for points (111) by a kicker and mostfield goals (25) made.